Building-block.



W. J. G'RONERT & W. C. REID.

BUILDING BLOCK. APPLICATION FILED AUG.2I. I915.

Patented Feb. 8, 1916.

WITNESSES: "Wm/r005 Wg'ZZZW/J J Gromfif Wzza'am (3. Reid A TTORNEYS wiLLIAM. Jjononnn'r AND WILLIAM c. REID, or ELKHART, INDIANA.

BUILDING-BLOCK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed August 21, 1915. Serial No. 46,697.

To all whom it mag concern:

Be it known that we, WILLIAM J. GRONERT and WILLIAM. C, REID, citizens of the United States, and residents of Elkhart, in the county of Elkhart and State of Indiana, have inventedan Improvement in Building- Blocks, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is an improvement in building material and has particular reference to a new and novel construction of plastic block.

An object of the invention is the provision of a block which isso constructed with tongue and groove fittings that-a wall may be erected and perfectly alined without the necessity of employing a skilled mason.

Another object 1s to provide a block hav ing vertical openings connected by longitu-' dinal grooves adapted to have cement or other like material poured therelnto whereby to form a continuous monolithic wall thus on the securely bonding each block with those surrounding it, said wall having on each side thereof a plurality of horizontal air spaces which adequately protect against moisture.

A further object is the provision of a building block of this character which is simple in construction, and easy to manufacture.

The inventive idea involved is capable of receiving a variety of mechanical expressions, one of which,'for the purpose of illustrating the invention, is shown in the accompanying drawing, in which Fi re 1 is a top plan view of one of the building blocks constructed in accordance with the invention. Fig. 2 isa fragmentary longitudinal section taken through'a completed wall. Fig. 3 is a transverse section line 3-3 of Fig. 1. Fig. ,31 is a perspective view of two of the blocks showing their respective locations when building a wall.

Referring more companying drawing, in which like reference charactersindicate similar parts, the numeral 5 indicates a block or unit which is ;made of any suitable material and preferably of substantially rectangular formation.

One end of the block'is provided centrally thereof with a groove 6 while the other end" particularly to the ad is provided with a tongue 7 ,said groove and tongue being preferably made substantially semi-circular, but it is to be expressly understood that, the same may be of angular formation. tongue 6 and 7 the body portion is provided 1n the bottom thereof with a similar groove 8 and at the top thereof with a tongue 9. The tongues and grooves are provided respectively with small central grooves 10 and 11 which form a channel completely around the block, for a purpose which will appear in the course of the description. The'body portion 5 is also provided centrally thereof with a plurality of vertically arranged openings 12 which communicate with the groove Patented Feb.8,1916.

Connecting the groove and 8 above described and extend through the groove 9 and which are adapted to have cement or other bonding material poured thereinto when a wall is being constructed.

The top of the body portion is provided on each side of the tongue 9 with the longitudinally extending channels 13 which provide air spaces connecting with the vertical air spaces and are also adapted to receive wire insulation therein. The block is also provided on each side of the central groove and tongues 8 and 9 with a plurality of large vertical openings 14 and small openings 15 which form air spaces for the purpose of protecting the wall against dampness and other injurious effects.

In practice, a wall is constructed by superimposing one layer of blocks upon another andarrangmg each block in staggered relation so that the vertical openings 12, 1 1 and,

15 adjacent one end of one block will register with those in the opposite end of the superimposed block as shown in Fig. 1. It will be readily seen from the tongue and groove formation that the blocks may be easily laid and alined by an ordinary laborer thus obviating the necessity of employing a skilled mason. After laying any desired number of blocks, in the manner just described, cement or other material is poured into the large openings 12 and as these alined openings are filled up the concrete spreads through thecommunicating longitudinal grooves 10 and 11 into adjacent vertical openings 12 so that when the layers of block are entirely filled there will be formed a central, continuous, monolithic cement and smaller communicating grooves which Wall, as shown in Fig. 2, which Will not only extend around the entire body portion, the w effectively reinforce the Wall but also ex latter being also providedwith communiclude moisture. eating vertical openings and longitudinal 5 What is claimed is: channels arranged on each side of said A building block comprising a body portongues and grooves and forming air spaces. tion provided with alined tongues and WILLIAM J. GRONERT.

grooves in the ends, top and bottom thereof VVILJLIAM C. REID. 

